The Beginning of a Plan

      For years I would make dolls when I felt like it and list them for sale as they were finished. The exception to that was when I was working on dolls for my TRXC (The Region X Championships) sale. People didn't often buy dolls at smaller shows, so I never really planned to have dolls then. But the TRXC weekend, people were shopping so I tried to have things available for sale. It was a good plan and worked pretty well for me for years. Every year for the past 7-10 years (I have lost track) I have held some variety of Black Friday sale. As in on-sale sale. I have offered discounted orders, discounts on dolls that I have left from TRXC and a mix of that sort of idea. Last Black Friday I decided I wanted to do something different, and that was my first live sale. 

     I loved it. 

     I love being able to interact with people. I love not having to take hundreds of photos. I actually also really love the crazy-fast pace. I actually work pretty well under pressure. My goal was to make the sales entertaining and as quick as possible. I have seen live sales that drag on and on and it seems not much is even happening. I didn't want mine to be like that. I think I accomplished what I meant to. And I learned a ton from my first live sale. I wanted to have another. 

     So then I had the vague idea that I wanted to hold another live sale but I didn't know when. I needed at least a few months to make things to sell, and I needed to buy some more stuff for prizes. Because I REALLY love offering prizes! I decided that my birthday would be a good day to do a live sale, but not ON my birthday. So I had it the day before. 

     My birthday live sale was about 2 weeks into the shutdown and I had no idea if people would even be into it for retail prices. I knew there was every possibility that it would go badly, for any number of reasons. But my birthday live sale went really well too. I took what I learned from my Black Friday live sale and tried to make the Birthday live sale as seamless and efficient as possible. The organization and use of paper bags with everyone's name on them was key to keeping things running quickly and smoothly. It also helped with invoicing and shipping. I was incredibly pleased with how everything turned out. 

     So the next plan was to start making things to send to Breyerfest. I had a really cool offer from a friend and I was definitely into sending stuff down with her. But the world didn't reopen and Breyerfest was canceled as an in-person event. But I quickly decided I would have another live sale. I was already working on the inventory, adjusting the plan a bit to hold a live sale is not too different. Though I need prizes, have to work on trivia and some other details. But I really do enjoy live sales. 

     I had the very beginnings of a plan. I knew I wanted to hold the live sale near Breyerfest but not on Breyerfest weekend. So that landed me the weekend before. Saturday of that weekend is July 4th. I am not going to assume things will still be closed and we will still all be social distancing (though maybe, we just don't know) so I didn't want to plan my sale for July 4th. So I went with the 5th. 

     Then I kept on working. I made dolls as I thought of what to make, worked on ordered dolls in between and started working on cross country kits. Someone recently made the comment that the variety makes them want more (something along those lines). This time around I will have more colors and more sets than at my previous sales. I started out working on 22 sets, but I seem to have misplaced a vest and I am donating one so I have 20 finished vests. And I finally got all the watches and medbands finished, everything got packaged up... which means I went from feeling sort of behind and out of control all the time to feeling like I am finally making some progress towards my goals. I don't have totally concrete goals though. 

    Last year I sent 32 dolls to Breyerfest and I thought it would be nice to have at least 30 again this year. So I had a doll goal from the beginning but no other goals. Once I finished the 20 cross country kits I started working out some other goals. This past week I started working on saddlebags. I have 4 sets in the works, and working on 4 sets all at once is not horrible. So I am thinking I can try to get 4 sets of bags done a week, for the next 3 weeks. 16 finished sets of saddlebags seems like a good amount, and not out of the realm of what I should be able to do. Then once those are finished I can move on to chaps. I was thinking 5 pairs of chaps a week is a good goal. That would give me 15 pairs of chaps at the end. I also need to make 2-3 dolls a week, for the next 6 weeks, to get to my goal of 30 dolls total. I think it's a reasonable plan. 

     I may be able to get more finished in a week than what is in the plan, but I am trying not to overextend myself too much. We are still doing repairs and I might not have a lot of time to work on doll stuff on a lot of days. I think with the plan I have in place that I should be able to finish the weekly plans, even if I am helping fix things. I hope so. But at least I am working out more of a plan. It makes me a little calmer about prepping for my sale.